Life in Zugzwanghttp://lifezugzwang.com
A blog on chess, movies, and avoiding life Zugzwang.Sun, 01 Oct 2017 03:39:17 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.5LifeZugzwang.com Presents: The Definitive Halloween Viewing Guide for 2017http://lifezugzwang.com/lifezugzwang-com-presents-the-definitive-halloween-movie-viewing-guide-for-2017/
http://lifezugzwang.com/lifezugzwang-com-presents-the-definitive-halloween-movie-viewing-guide-for-2017/#respondSun, 01 Oct 2017 03:36:34 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=5147Greetings, yes I’m still around/alive. Today I’d like to share a little project I’ve been working on for a little while. I humbly present to you a list I’ve been compiling; “31 films to watch before Halloween”. My plan is to watch one of these movies everyday leading up to Halloween. I’ve done a bunch of research to compile this… Read more →]]>Greetings, yes I’m still around/alive. Today I’d like to share a little project I’ve been working on for a little while. I humbly present to you a list I’ve been compiling; “31 films to watch before Halloween”. My plan is to watch one of these movies everyday leading up to Halloween. I’ve done a bunch of research to compile this list; I checked with IMDB and rottentomatoes. Of the 31 movies on the list; you’ll notice that there aren’t any movies that came out within the last year. This list is going to be a living thing; and when a year has passed I’ll add the recent films to the list (should they meet my criteria).

I’ve gone to the liberty of including one wild card entry; which I’ll point out every year. This years wildcard was the cult-classic David Lynch film Eraserhead:

Without further ado; here is my list (in order of the year/day that I’ll be watching it):

Film

Year

Genre

Director

The cabinet of dr. Caligari

1920

German silent horror

Robert Wiene

Psycho

1960

American psychological horror

Alfred Hitchcock

The Birds

1963

American horror-thriller

Alfred Hitchcock

Night of the Living dead

1968

American independent horror

George A. Romero

Rosemary’s Baby

1968

American psychological horror

Roman Polanski

The Exorcist

1973

American psychological horror

William Friedkin

The Tenant

1976

psychological horror

Roman Polanski

EraserHead

1977

American surrealist body horror

David Lynch

Dawn of the Dead

1978

American independent zombie horror

George A. Romero

Halloween

1978

American independent slasher

John Carpenter

Alien

1979

British-American science fiction horror

Ridley Scott

Nosferatu the Vampyre

1979

West German art house vampire horror

Werner Herzog

The Shining

1980

British-American psychological horror

Stanley Kubrick

An American Werewolf In London

1981

British-American horror comedy

John Landis

The Evil Dead

1981

American supernatural horror

Sam Raimi

The Thing

1982

American science-fiction horror

John Carpenter

A Nightmare on elm street

1984

American supernatural slasher

Wes Craven

Aliens

1986

American science fiction action horror

James Cameron

Evil Dead II

1987

American comedy horror

Sam Raimi

Misery

1990

American psychological thriller

Rob Reiner

Silence of the Lambs

1991

American horror-thriller

Jonathan Demme

Dead Alive

1992

New Zealand splatstick body horror zombie

Peter Jackson

The Sixth Sense

1999

American supernatural horror-thriller

M. Night Shyamalan

The Devil’s Backbone

2001

Spanish-Mexican gothic horror

Guillermo del Toro

Shaun of the Dead

2004

British horror comedy

Edgar Wright

Let the Right One In

2008

Swedish romantic horror

Tomas Alfredson

Zombieland

2009

American zombie comedy

Ruben Fleischer

Black Swan

2010

American psychological thriller-horror

Darren Aronofsky

What We Do In the Shadows

2014

New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy

Jemaine Clement

The Wailing

2016

South Korean horror

Na Hong-jin

Train to Busan

2016

zombie apocalypse action thriller

Yeon Sang-ho

Let me know in the comments below if you think I’ve missed any films; I’d be interested to see what you guys think of my list. Btw, if you’re curious; here is a link to my original list

]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/lifezugzwang-com-presents-the-definitive-halloween-movie-viewing-guide-for-2017/feed/0Chess Challenge Day 2http://lifezugzwang.com/chess-challenge-day-2/
http://lifezugzwang.com/chess-challenge-day-2/#respondMon, 05 Dec 2016 01:13:57 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=5122I played for two hours today, I still haven’t really decided how long I’m going to play for online so again, if anybody has any suggestions please let me know. I started off playing rather poorly, but managed to regain some dignity towards the middle of the stream. I still managed to finish with 11 wins, 2 draws and 9… Read more →]]>I played for two hours today, I still haven’t really decided how long I’m going to play for online so again, if anybody has any suggestions please let me know. I started off playing rather poorly, but managed to regain some dignity towards the middle of the stream. I still managed to finish with 11 wins, 2 draws and 9 losses (11-2-9) for a total of 22 games with a win % of ~55%.

Here is a fun little game I played against a user “toiletseat71”, you should always remember to castle before beginning the middlegame plans.

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]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/chess-challenge-day-2/feed/0Challenge Acceptedhttp://lifezugzwang.com/challenge-accepted/
http://lifezugzwang.com/challenge-accepted/#respondSat, 03 Dec 2016 22:25:33 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=5112Hello everyone, I’ve decided to take on a challenge. I’m going to try to play blitz chess on ICC for some predetermined length of time. I think the record right now is 72 hours as set by Graham Burgess but I’ve yet to see any corroboration on this or confirmation. If anyone knows Graham or can confirm this record please… Read more →]]>Hello everyone, I’ve decided to take on a challenge. I’m going to try to play blitz chess on ICC for some predetermined length of time. I think the record right now is 72 hours as set by Graham Burgess but I’ve yet to see any corroboration on this or confirmation. If anyone knows Graham or can confirm this record please let me know. I don’t know exactly how long i should play blitz for, but initially I think I’m going to aim for 12 hours and then take it from there.

As part of this I will update you with at least one game. Without further ado here is a miniature I won against GM Akshayraj Kore:

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]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/challenge-accepted/feed/0Twitch Stream!http://lifezugzwang.com/twitch-stream/
http://lifezugzwang.com/twitch-stream/#respondMon, 12 Sep 2016 22:09:51 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=5101Greetings everyone! I set up a new twitch stream! I’m going to be streaming every Monday at 7pm EST for the ICC 3/2 USCF Blitz tournament. With any luck, I’ll see y’all there! I’ll also post the videos to youtube afterward so you’ll always be able to see it after I’m done playing. Follow me on Twitch! EDIT: The video for… Read more →]]>Greetings everyone! I set up a new twitch stream! I’m going to be streaming every Monday at 7pm EST for the ICC 3/2 USCF Blitz tournament. With any luck, I’ll see y’all there! I’ll also post the videos to youtube afterward so you’ll always be able to see it after I’m done playing.

]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/twitch-stream/feed/0Recap of the 2016 Cleveland Openhttp://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-2016-cleveland-open/
http://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-2016-cleveland-open/#respondThu, 18 Aug 2016 00:50:08 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=5049I recently competed in the 2016 Cleveland Open. This summer I’ve taken a lot of time off from chess. Since my previous experience in Canada I haven’t felt motivated to compete. Since the NY State championship is approaching I figured that now would be a good time to get back into “form”. Aside from some online games I haven’t been playing… Read more →]]>I recently competed in the 2016 Cleveland Open. This summer I’ve taken a lot of time off from chess. Since my previous experience in Canada I haven’t felt motivated to compete. Since the NY State championship is approaching I figured that now would be a good time to get back into “form”. Aside from some online games I haven’t been playing much. With that in mind I decided to take Friday off of work and play in the three-day section. I figured this would allow me to play at a more “relaxing” pace. I was able to explore Cleveland a bit while I was there. I got down to the art gallery, and the rock and roll hall of fame. I also saw the Garfield Memorial and managed to catch up with a friend from high school. We hadn’t seen each other in roughly eight years!

As for the tournament, I got off to a rocky start. I drew a player who was playing up two sections in a game that I would describe as poor quality; from both sides. I got into time pressure attempting to convert the ending and found myself up a piece but down a few pawns. Thankfully, my opponent couldn’t navigate through the ending. In the end, I managed to demonstrate how to draw with a knight vs 2 connected passed pawns. A real accomplishment on my part. Our game was the last to finish that night as my opponent wanted to continue to play until we had kings left on the board.

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I was able to shake off this debacle and sat down to play against my second round opponent. My opening play was dubious and he got a small edge. My opponent seemed unsure of what to do with his position. He floundered around a bit which allowed me to equalize. After some maneuvering I outplayed him in a somewhat complex ending:

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After this game I was feeling a bit more confident. I was paired up in my next game against a local master. Once again I found myself fumbling through the opening. As luck would have it my opponent fell asleep during our game! After some maneuvering, he blundered. After finding the correct moves in the ending I won a nice game:

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In the final round I played a strong 2300. After completely butchering the opening I obtained a worse position. I forgot how joyless defending those terrible positions are. My opponent was patient and handled the position well. I never had any counter chances.

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So, not a bad tournament. In the future, need to manage my time better, and learn the openings. I don’t think I played too poorly, and it was good to shake the “rust” off. Outside of some zeitnot, I didn’t play any egregious blunders. I felt that my calculations were solid and that I didn’t miss much. Look for my next tournament recap about the NYS championship!

]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-2016-cleveland-open/feed/0Recap of the 2016 Niagara Falls Openhttp://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-2016-niagara-falls-open/
http://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-2016-niagara-falls-open/#commentsWed, 27 Apr 2016 01:04:56 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=4983On the weekend of April 15, I competed in the Niagara Falls Open held in Niagara Falls, Ontario. As this was only my second time playing in Canada I was unsure of what to expect. This tournament, like many before it, had it’s trials and tribulations. There was drama and intrigue. It is unlikely that I’ll be returning to play… Read more →]]>On the weekend of April 15, I competed in the Niagara Falls Open held in Niagara Falls, Ontario. As this was only my second time playing in Canada I was unsure of what to expect. This tournament, like many before it, had it’s trials and tribulations. There was drama and intrigue. It is unlikely that I’ll be returning to play in this tournament. That said, I wanted to describe my experience for those who are thinking about it in the future.

I’m going to do my best to try and portray things as fairly and as accurately as I can. The organizers are nice people. They were cordial and welcoming and seemed happy to have me there. My intention here is to give suggestions about running and organizing tournaments.

I want to stop here for a moment and discuss something important. We should no longer have tournaments that are using digital clocks without delay/increment. Full stop, PERIOD. If you are in a tournament, and they aren’t using delay/increment DO NOT PLAY.

It’s 2016, the chess world should no longer have a place for the analog clock. You should buy a digital clock. Some of you may be thinking about the less fortunate who cannot afford a digital clock and blah blah blah. I will point out that it isn’t the kids who have analog clocks, it’s [generally] the old men who have them. These Luddites with their analog clocks are a stain on tournament chess. We’ve been putting up with them and allowing them to continue this practice for far too long. Buy the right equipment, or don’t play.

Keeping this in mind, let me take you to the first round. My opponent was a tough player, but he soaked up too much time on moves that I felt were not critical. He found himself in egregious zeitnot (time pressure) by move 27. He had two minutes to my 20 and without increment or delay he was a dead man walking. He played good moves rapidly and was able to hold the position. Eventually, his Zeitnot overcame him and he blundered and resigned:

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As you can see; it was a hard fought game. We both made some inaccuracies and there was some back and forth but I think we both played well. It’s a shame to win a game like this on time; but hey, the clock is part of the game. My opponent was visibly upset. It didn’t seem fair to me that we had to play in the first round but again; this is sport and there are winners and losers.

That night I didn’t sleep well; I was tossing and turning all night and things felt “off”. I awoke to an email from the organizer at 1:18 AM which read,

“Hi [lifezugzwang], Because you told, [organizer] that you have a higher USCF rating than your CFC rating, we may be obligated to use that rating for the rest of the tournament. Are you okay with that? Signed: [other organizer]”.

My response was thus (sent at 5:30 AM):

“I would prefer that. It’s more fair to the other competitors.”

Problem solved right? Wrong. When I showed up for the second round the organizers asked me to talk to them outside. Outside they informed me they were taking the following actions:

Starting from the second round my rating would change from ~1750 -> 2112. Which I mentioned in my email was fine. No problem.

My opponent would be awarded a half point bye. – what?

I would receive one full point bye. – wait, what?

Our game would be expunged from the record; and would not count towards my CFC rating.

I would not play this opponent again.

So, on top of a terrible nights sleep, and a tense first round game. I was told that, “You didn’t win, and additionally, your opponent didn’t lose”. Think about that; you play a game of anything; and after you’ve won, a judge decides that your game will not count. I was a “good sport” and despite some objections on my part I shook hands with them and went in to play the second round. With all that on my mind I turned in this debacle of a game:

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Hot garbage; and it’s understandable why. I was seething at the situation that occurred before the second round.

In the third round I was paired against a gentleman rated ~1500. I didn’t calculate much this game; my mind was a mess and I was exhausted. He made a few passive moves and I won a nice miniature:

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After that game I received a text from an old friend who is in school at University of Buffalo. As it turned out he had a free night. He drove up to visit me in Niagara. We did all the silly touristy stuff you do in Niagara; including the Ferris wheel!

That night my sleep was much better and I felt like I was finally firing on all cylinders:

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By this point my opponent from the first round had dispatched a few weaker players. Despite losing to a master, he now had 2.5/4 while I had 3/4. In the final round I was paired against one of the two IM’s in the tournament. We played an interesting game which culminated in four queens on the board. I overlooked his forcing line and got myself checkmated:

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My opponent from the first round won a game against someone rated ~1600 which gave him 3.5/5 and left me with 3/5. So, despite each of us losing two games, he cashed and I did not.

Addendum: After speaking with the Director of the CFC my first round game was rated. My rating was adjusted to something closer to my USCF rating. I shouldn’t have any issues playing in future CFC events. I’m glad everything got worked out, but I’m disappointed that there was drama in an otherwise well run event.

]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-2016-niagara-falls-open/feed/1FM Ben Dean-Kawamura Annotates!http://lifezugzwang.com/fm-ben-dean-kawamura-annotates/
http://lifezugzwang.com/fm-ben-dean-kawamura-annotates/#respondThu, 21 Apr 2016 02:37:01 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=4994Greetings everyone, today we have a special treat. FM Ben Dean-Kawamura has once again annotated a critical victory of his. This time over GM Bryan Smith. You may remember Ben from his annotations from the 2014 Marchand. In 2014, he defeated GM Kekelidze in a wild game. But that’s not all! Ben created a python script which changes changes chess annotation into beautiful… Read more →]]>GM Bryan Smith (left) and FM Ben Dean-Kawamura playing in the Final round of the 2016 Marchand.

Greetings everyone, today we have a special treat. FM Ben Dean-Kawamura has once again annotated a critical victory of his. This time over GM Bryan Smith. You may remember Ben from his annotations from the 2014 Marchand. In 2014, he defeated GM Kekelidze in a wild game.

But that’s not all! Ben created a python script which changes changes chess annotation into beautiful PDF’s. These PDF’s are complete with diagrams and proper formatting. It uses a document preparation system called LaTeX. Now, with his help I will be able to publish a novel with the games from this site. Coming to a toilet near you!

Without further ado, here is Ben’s fine victory over GM Bryan Smith.

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A fantastic effort, congratulations Ben! Thank you for sharing your insights with us. For those interested here is a zip file of the python script as well as a sample PDF and PGN. Please note, you will need to have a linux box, LaTeX, and Python installed in order for this to work.

]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/fm-ben-dean-kawamura-annotates/feed/0Recap of the 38th Marchand Openhttp://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-38th-marchand-open/
http://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-38th-marchand-open/#respondTue, 22 Mar 2016 22:52:07 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=4952I read a lot of articles that tell the reader to try and take “lessons” away from tournaments. For me the lessons sometimes come long after I’ve finished a tournament. Sometimes the lessons can be quite painful. There are times when I struggle to take a lesson away from a particular game or event. In the Marchand this year, I learned a… Read more →]]>I read a lot of articles that tell the reader to try and take “lessons” away from tournaments. For me the lessons sometimes come long after I’ve finished a tournament. Sometimes the lessons can be quite painful. There are times when I struggle to take a lesson away from a particular game or event. In the Marchand this year, I learned a valuable lesson.

I don’t want this to be another stale post about topic “X”. I too roll my eyes and skip to the part that interests me. Perhaps you’ve already skipped ahead; more power to you. For many of you, there are few things that I can tell you that you don’t already know; and that’s cool. Some of you may learn something from this post; and that’s cool too.

This tournament was unique for me. I learned a valuable lesson in my first game; and without realizing the lesson, I ignored it:

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The second round I played against GM Kudrin, our game wasn’t all that fun. That is to say, I didn’t enjoy it. At some point around move 22 I realized that I was looking for a good place to resign. Thankfully, the game next to us was full of intrigue so I could live vicariously through them. Kudrin’s play was solid. He never allowed me any chances of getting back into the game and my position was devoid of counterplay. As is customary I post this game in it’s entirety:

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In my third game I had another critical decision to make in the endgame. I ignored the “lesson” of my first game and acquiesced to a draw in a sharp endgame where I shouldn’t lose:

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The fourth game rolled around and once again I acquiesced. After misplaying the opening I was struggling to find a way to neutralize white’s play. I came upon a solution but as soon as I stabilized I offered a draw! This has more to do with my own psychology than it does with whatever was going on during the game.

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Having learned my lesson from round three and four, I was not in an agreeable mood. There were more than a few times that I wanted to extend my hand. At some moment, I resolved to allow myself to take a step “into the deep dark forest”*. The game could have gone the other way. And in that case the lesson would be different. In an alternate universe, I lose this game. In that universe, I opine about how I, “should have offered a draw”. How I, “overestimated my position and my abilities”. But on this day, Caissa smiled on me and I won with a beautiful knight fork that threatens mate in two or nets a piece:

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So what is this mysterious lesson that I’ve been cryptically eluding to? Play on!Play on young man, play on!

*From the classic Tal quote: “You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.”

]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/recap-of-the-38th-marchand-open/feed/0October 2015 Grandmaster Spotlight: Li Chaohttp://lifezugzwang.com/october-2015-grandmaster-spotlight-li-chao/
http://lifezugzwang.com/october-2015-grandmaster-spotlight-li-chao/#respondMon, 21 Dec 2015 00:59:46 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=4743Welcome back everyone; we’re happy you’re here. After the total roller coaster that was the World Cup we are back with another GM Spotlight. This month we are examining the games of GM Li Chao. Chao earned the GM title in 2007 at the age of 18. Since earning the title he’s climbed to a peak rating of 2756. He’s slipped… Read more →]]>GM Li Chao

Welcome back everyone; we’re happy you’re here. After the total roller coaster that was the World Cup we are back with another GM Spotlight. This month we are examining the games of GM Li Chao. Chao earned the GM title in 2007 at the age of 18. Since earning the title he’s climbed to a peak rating of 2756. He’s slipped a bit recently and is currently rated 2748. He’s played on ICC before using the handle chess-awp. To my knowledge he and I have never played on ICC.

The first game I found is the sort of game that makes you smile. The trick at the end is quite impressive and a bit unusual. The ability to spot these motif’s is what separates GM’s from weaker players.

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This next game involves an impressive queen sacrifice. The power of the sacrifice comes from the passed a-pawn that starts rolling down the board.

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This next game is a great example of one player creating a weakness (the king) and exploiting it to the maximum. Chao goes after the white king and forces his opponent into a zugzwang position. At the end white resigns as he has no good moves to make.

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In this game Chao creates a masterpiece after once again sacrificing his queen. This time his sacrifice was somewhat unclear although he had great compensation. One important thing to remember when making a sacrifice is king safety. In this game, Chao’s king is well protected. This is why his opponent has a tough time drumming up counter-play.

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Our final game involves a beautiful punch/counter-punch combination at the end. Chao completely turns the tables on his opponent. His opponent immediately resigns after he snatched a poisoned pawn. Of course if white tries to capture the rook on h3 Black delivers mate on h2 :).

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]]>http://lifezugzwang.com/october-2015-grandmaster-spotlight-li-chao/feed/0State of the Zugzwanghttp://lifezugzwang.com/state-of-the-zugzwang/
http://lifezugzwang.com/state-of-the-zugzwang/#respondSat, 21 Nov 2015 23:33:03 +0000http://lifezugzwang.com/?p=4901Hey everyone, wanted to do a quick update so y’all don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, or this blog. I still plan on doing updates on a somewhat regular schedule (one update every one or two weeks). I still have some GM Spotlights to finish up, I’m aware, I’ve fallen way behind. For that I apologize. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ To use a… Read more →]]>Hey everyone, wanted to do a quick update so y’all don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, or this blog. I still plan on doing updates on a somewhat regular schedule (one update every one or two weeks). I still have some GM Spotlights to finish up, I’m aware, I’ve fallen way behind. For that I apologize.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

To use a cliche, I think it’s time I circled the wagons. What this means:

I’m going to finish up this years editions of “The GM Spotlight”. I’m not sure if I’m going to have time to continue it next year; it’s a lot of work for posts that don’t seem to be that popular.

Some of the tertiary posts like the weekly reviews, and extraneous articles are going away.

I reserve the right to do a weekly review periodically if I’m feeling sporting, but I have no obligation to keep a timeline.

I’d like to get back into doing movie reviews; that was a part of this blog I genuinely enjoyed.

With any luck 2016 is going to be filled with more posts, a store front(!?), and perhaps a podcast, provided I can find a strong co-host.

Stay tuned and keep watching the twitter feed, 2016 is going to be big and full of surprises :).